The Mound Westonka cross country team traveled to Collinwood Park to compete in the Dassel-Cokato Charger Invite on Sept. 24.
“Our racing results at the Charger Invite in Dassel-Cokato were very solid. I always feel that it takes our team until that Meet to be in ‘race shape’, as most of our training from June-mid September is focused much more on endurance than speed. That begins to change now,” shared Coach Humbert.
The varsity girls had a strong showing, placing third out of ten teams with four runners placing in the top 20. Sophomore Sophia Engesser led the team in tenth place, followed by eighth grader Hadley Hoag in 15th, senior Audrey Kirscht in 16th and eighth grader Lydia Engesser in 17th. Next across the finish line were senior Brooke Garlock, sophomore Anna Regenold and ninth grader Elise Hays.
The varsity boys were up against tough competition, including one of the state’s fastest runners, Sal Wirth from Annandale. Senior Isaac Hays was the first White Hawk to cross the finish line in 15th place and senior Andrew Finley placed 24th. Junior Noah Huesmann, sophomores Brendan Rashleger and Owen Trost and freshman Gabriel Lundgren had strong performances to help the team place sixth in the 14-team meet.
The boys JV team impressively won the meet by having five runners place in the top 10. Leading the team was sophomore Levi Hays (3rd), followed by ninth grader Jacob Chilson (4th), sophomore Drew Carlson (5th), sophomore Jensen Blackstad (7th) and ninth grader Cal Pearson (10th). Senior Claire Rashleger represented the girls JV with a terrific sixth place finish.
The middle school teams provided two standout performances with sixth grader Raelyn Moslander winning the race for the girls and seventh grader Peter Berg placing tenth for the boys.
Coach Humbert commented, “It has been a super season thus far. As we turned the corner at the halfway point of our regular season, we feel good about our overall health, variety of training, and many opportunities to enjoy the glory of being a team and having some fun on the run. As always, our student-athletes are doing well in the classroom. I know I can speak for our entire coaching staff in saying that it is a joy to work with the current edition of our team. Cross Country is not a glamorous sport and oftentimes flies under the radar of the local sports teams, but our ‘24 team is shining bright and representing our community very well.”
The team’s next meet will be at Prairie Park in Otsego on Oct. 3, where the team will compete against 22 teams.
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